Can the Financial Recovery Plan for Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality succeed to turn around a sinking ship?

Mangaung has been broken as a result of 30 years of misguided political leadership that has now accumulated and snowballed into a massive, expensive, rotting case study of ANC cadre deployment-driven corruption, mismanagement and paralysis.

Status Quo

Any sentient being that has been in Mangaung for the past five years knows. But do most people realise the depth and breadth of the challenges the city faces?

Why has it not been fixed?

Can it be fixed and how?

And how long will it take?

Before we can discuss the path to recovery, we however need to make sure we understand the underlying causes for the problem, not just the symptoms we all encounter in our daily lives. The draft Financial Recovery Plan (FRP) paints a dreary picture of the city after which it seems to offer a path to recovery with a complete action plan. To name but a few of the critical issues highlighted by the FRP:

“The Municipality is plagued by political and administrative instability. This instability filters through to the daily operations and functions of the Municipality, and through to the public and ordinary employees taking to the streets in protest against poor service delivery, vandalism, destruction of property, etc.”

Political instability

There seems not to have been any cooperation, coordination or synergy between the offices of the executive mayor, city manager and speaker since at least 2016. Due to the unavailability of minutes, it seems that the mayoral committee itself has the same problem. Whereas the troika of the executive mayor, city manager and speaker – and now the National Cabinet Representative (NCR), who believes she has to sign off on any document before any meeting is held or decision taken in the city – is meant to meet at least weekly to work towards the common goal of improving the lives and livelihoods of the citizens. Although it seems that the troika is now meeting more regularly, it is apparent that the city manager, mayor and NCR each have their own agendas and rarely agree on any programme of action. Even when an item reaches council after being signed off by the NCR, City Manager and Mayor or Speaker, the debates in council regularly point towards divisions in the governing ANC caucus with one faction supporting the item and the other trying its best to amend the recommendations of the item or have it withdrawn. It is clear that nationally the ANC itself is divided in factions and individuals who are fighting for control over internal party power in order to then gain “control” of the levers of power in government to enrich specific persons or factions. There is no more illusion that any action by the ANC is ever with the aim of improving lives and livelihoods of the general citizen. Though there might be isolated instances where the agenda of a specific ANC grouping inadvertently coincides roughly with some possibility to improve citizens lives.

Administrative Instability

By now, it is well known that the ANC has effectively subverted all government institutions to arms of the party through the most effective project the party has pulled off since 1994: cadre deployment. This means that the decision-makers in government, who are supposed to be professional bureaucrats that work for citizens and not political parties, were all appointed because they were ANC deployees. Not only has this regularly led to the permanent appointment of politicians, but as the factional power struggle inside the party has deepened, their deployees in government have also become factionalised, using every possible government process or resource to undermine and destroy employees, managers, communities and politicians from opposing factions, and even those that are not politically affiliated but are perceived to stand in the way of their factional agenda.

The outcome of the politicisation of government employees through cadre deployment means that even though the council that was elected in 2021 has taken numerous critical decisions and instructed the administration (municipal employees, supervisors, managers, senior management and the municipal manager whom they all report to) through resolutions to take specific actions to restore order in Mangaung, it has not happened. These resolutions include:

• The appointment of a disciplinary board by the administration: Without such a board there are almost no consequences for mismanagement, failure to implement lawful instructions, ill-discipline, non-performance or any other disciplinary case. This means that there is no way for management to hold employees accountable for their actions or inaction.
• The process for the appointment of a municipal manager and managers directly accountable to the municipal manager (HoDs)
• The implementation of a performance management system: For the executive mayor to monitor, assess and address the performance of the municipal manager continually to ensure that the resolutions of council are implemented, and other legal responsibilities are carried out by the municipal manager. For the municipal manager to monitor, assess and address the performance of the senior managers to continually ensure that the senior managers efficiently carries out legal instructions by the municipal manager and other responsibilities placed on them through delegations by council, the municipal manager or legislation. This system must then be cascaded down to every employee to ensure that council and residents can see that the salaries of over R2 billion that is paid annually for the staff members are visible through the daily activities of every employee, guided by the performance management system.
• Appointment of an audit committee.
• Appointment of a chief technology officer who is responsible for the management of the data and data systems that should be the backbone of the entire municipality. From a digital building plan and land use applications to the contravention management system for traffic offences, supply chain management systems and municipal accounts through to the communications systems that the municipality use to keep its residents informed and get feedback from residents and an integrated case management system to receive, follow up and resolve complaints from residents.
• The appointment of municipal planning tribunal members and appeals authority positions for a number of vacant positions.
• The appointment of capable staff in numerous critical positions which is paralysing many critical functions that the municipality is required by the Constitution to perform, or needs in order to effectively manage revenue and expenses, and implement projects.
• Ensuring that the Local Labour Forum is functional to identify, prevent and mediate any labour disputes or important labour-related changes needed to ensure the continued existence of the municipality.
• Implementation of a DA motion to ensure effective committee oversight system by council over different portfolios/departments/functions/mayoral members, in alignment with the FRP, legal amendments and best practise.

Impact on Service Delivery

Water and sanitation

After years of requesting a shared Whatsapp group of councillors with officials for the reporting and escalation of burst water and sewage problems, such a group was recently started. However, it quickly became clear that there is no human capacity, coordination or responsibility to document and address the hundreds of problems councillors post on the group on a daily basis. Requests to the mayor, MMC, city manager or other officials remain unanswered. On 1 August, I visited the depot for water and sanitation, and found like many times before, dozens of officials sitting around and more than 12 trucks standing around at the depot. This, while complaints of growing lists of sewage and water problems streamed in unanswered. As many times before, the problem was again said to be that overtime was reduced or not paid out or not approved. Yet, during normal working hours no work was being done!

For the past year we were told that water and sewage problems could not be addressed, because there was no fleet available. That was also the reason why we regularly saw dozens of workers sitting around at the depot during work hours. Now, a number of new fleet has been procured and is in use for a few weeks, but still there is no sustainable significant improvement in the backlog of cases visible. Now, there is no hiding behind the excuse that there is no fleet available.

Waste

The same pattern has been obvious with waste removal. When the management is challenged to explain failure to remove waste while workers are seen standing around the depot, lack of fleet, broken fleet, licences not paid are blamed. Nothing has changed in this situation since the intervention started. Yet, whenever there have been times with fleet available either due to short-term leases, loans from other municipalities or after massive amounts were spent to repair the fleet, the situation remained the same, and in many cases it worsened. Workers deliberately refused to use vehicles leased for a month to improve the removal of refuse. When asked what action had been taken against the workers, supervisors or managers that took part in this action, we were told that the minister quickly intervenes as soon as disciplinary action is taken by any HoD against a worker. Usually because the worker is a senior ANC leader. Furthermore, we are then told the lives of managers and workers are threatened if they resist any such illegal actions.

Law enforcement

We are told that law enforcement does not have any vehicle available for use to do any law enforcement. However, there is a law enforcement bakkie stationed at the Bram Fischer Building, apparently allocated to the city manager.

For what purpose?

Who does a councillor contact when he gets a call that there is damage to municipal property ongoing? At the moment, no one?

Fire brigade

In the past, Working on Fire was dispatched for veldfires at a very low cost to Mangaung. However, there is apparently issues with Supply Chain Management due to them being a sole service provider. Thus, there are hundreds of thousands of rands outstanding to Working on Fire, while the Fire Brigade has not had any veldfire bakkies replaced in the past few years. Leaving all farmers and emerging farmers unprotected from veldfires.

In the past five years, numerous senior managers have retired, including the fire chief, and no replacements have been appointed. This situation is present in all departments.

Risks

The FRP identified a number of risks to the implementation, which also provide a wider context:

Governance

• Poor leadership and political oversight and interference in the administration.
• Lack of will to address the challenges in the service delivery model.
• Resistance to change by unions, management and councillors.
• Community service delivery and other protests.
• Inadequate systems of delegation that impact on governance, administration and operational efficiency.
• Litigations issues due to supply chain management challenges.
• Inadequate implementation of internal controls.

Institutional

• Delay in the filling of critical vacant posts with people who have the appropriate experience, skills and qualifications.
• Industrial actions owing to communications and resistance to the changes due to any organisational restructuring or realignment and the implementation thereof.

Financial health

• Loss of grant funding due to non-compliance with grant conditions.
• Continued non-collection of revenue and increase in the debtors’ book.
• Non-commitment to stringent expenditure controls and non-implementation of the revenue enhancement initiatives.

Service delivery

• Failure to materially control and reduce non-revenue electricity and water losses, which losses will negate the impact of other interventions.
• Failure to reverse the trend of under-maintenance and failure of timely replacement of aged infrastructure.
• Community unrest and vandalism.

Political interference and union political power

Whenever I as a councillor have asked the senior management team (EMT) (appointed by CoGTA when the intervention started after council failed to appoint managers after the terms of the previous teams ended) about any service delivery challenges or cases, they always blamed either council for wrongs of the past, general managers that report to them or political interference. The NCR, EMT and city manager continually allege that council is standing in the way of useful interventions and that if council is dissolved, they would be able to do their work.

What I fail to understand is how council is negatively affecting the intervention? Which of the resolutions that council took that I mentioned above are not in support of the FRP? What does council do that stops the city manager, heads of department or NCR from fulfilling the role they should play in Mangaung? From what I see, we[DDP1]  are the only role players that actually try to inform our citizens what is going on and why they should continue paying their municipal bills despite a continued decline in basic municipal services.

Can this situation be turned around?

Yes, it is possible. It has happened in many municipalities where the DA has taken over with an outright majority, allowing council to take any necessary decisions to bring back stability to the administration. Where necessary, if cadres that were previously deployed by the ANC continued to undermine the recovery, disciplinary action had to be taken in extreme cases. When the DA took over, the Kouga Municipality had a working fleet of 4%, and five years later they had 96% working fleet and procured 50 more vehicles.

However, this is only possible where there is a very stable coalition (the DA is involved in more than 20 successful, stable coalitions countrywide, which are never reported on), or the electorate ensures that the DA can govern outright. Any other outcome makes it very difficult for the party in government to implement the necessary changes that will allow the city to recover. This is why the DA’s initiative for legal reforms to stabilise coalitions and the Moonshot Pact initiative is so critical.

Furthermore, it is important that voters understand that the damage that has been done to many municipalities could in some cases take years to recover from. Where officials are appointed that continue to undermine reforms, or are simply unable to do what the position requires them to do, legal labour processes need to be followed correctly to avoid unnecessary legal costs. Then there are extensive regulations on the recruitment, selection and appointment processes of staff. Once capable people have been appointed in the right positions and a system to hold staff accountable for their performance, only then can real progress be made. In many cases unqualified people were appointed without any experience in positions that requires specialised technical knowledge, qualifications and know how.

Can the FRP lead to a turnaround in Mangaung?

Based on the experience of the past years, the chances that the FRP will be implemented successfully in Mangaung while the ANC has a majority in council (51 of 101 councillors) are very slim. This is due to the following factors outlined above:

1. The stubborn, continued insistence by the ANC on cadre deployment to any positions in municipalities. This means that capability, qualifications, experience and professionalism are many times subverted to the first priority of appointing a cadre (from the right fact).
2. Escalating factionalism and infighting for positions in the shrinking spaces that the ANC governs. Which means that even where the ANC governs with a majority, and even if they wanted to take the right decisions (which they don’t), there will always be another faction that will undermine those decisions in the ANC, which will continue to cause political instability in those governments.
3. Political interference and vested interests by national and provincial cabinet members, government departments, officials and ANC leadership in Mangaung. Apart from the internal caucus factions and struggles there are many more vested interests by many different influential players in the ANC that have their own vested interests or scores to settle or cadres they want to employ in any position that is appointed in Mangaung. Recently a Cadre Deployment report of the ANC surfaced for appointments that must be made in the DA governed Umgeni Municipality. Thus one can only imagine the fights that go on behind closed doors to predetermine the outcome of what is supposed to be a bureaucratic process with no political interference to appoint municipal staff members.

Is it possible for the FRP to succeed if council is dissolved?

This writer needs to declare a conflict of interest as I am currently a councillor in Mangaung. However, the passionate insistence by the CoGTA appointed EMT and National Treasury appointed a national cabinet representative, some employees, unions and (ANC factional) pressure groups in Mangaung that council must be dissolved, needs further interrogation.

I would declare myself willing to vote for the dissolution of Mangaung council tomorrow, if they can give convincing responses on the following:

• To what end?
• What will be achieved by dissolving the council?
• What will be achieved and what will then happen differently?
• Will the NCR and EMT suddenly stop disagreeing, fighting and undermining each other?
• Will the political interference by influential ANC leaders stop?
• Will they then suddenly start implementing the resolutions that this very council have taken a year ago?
• Will the factional fights for control over municipal officials who control the money in Mangaung stop?
• Will the alleged death threats that are paralysing and demotivating the CoGTA EMT and Treasury NCR by employees stop?
• Will the city manager then suddenly be able to convene successful selection panels to appoint the Municipal Manager, HoDs and Municipal Planning Tribunal members, despite constant legal challenges and political pressure by ANC top brass?
• Will the city manager then suddenly hand over THE LAW ENFORCEMENT bakkie for use by Law Enforcement?
• Will the Supply Chain Management department suddenly miraculously start processing urgent tenders without any external influence?
• Will the EMT then suddenly not care about political interference by, for example an MEC, Minister, ANC NEC member, SAMWU shop stewart, a senior ANC affiliated general manager?
• Will they then suddenly start consulting with the workforce, managers and external stakeholders?

Why are they unable to resist alleged interference now by the mayor and other councillors in ways that are not legally allowed, such as the appointments made in the municipality and Supply Chain Management?

Just like the premier, NEC members or minister are not allowed to interfere politically in appointment processes or supply chain when council is dissolved, just so the mayor and councillors are not allowed at the moment to interfere anywhere unless they are empowered by law, or a specific delegation approved by council to do so.

Therefore, I believe that if the intervention team and EMT are unable now to overcome political interference by the ANC, they will still be unable to overcome it if council is dissolved. The only difference is that they will then take decisions with impunity without any oversight or transparency.

Is there any way to turn around the city?

Yes, there is.

In the short term, communities and civil society, many times in partnership with councillors, have already started to execute many of the functions that the municipality is responsible for. Unfortunately, this is not sustainable or viable in the long term. Although there is ample room for a well governed city to partner and collaborate with civil society to improve service delivery and add value to local communities, this does not mean that there is no need for a local government in Mangaung. The reason why a civil movement or group of community members works well is because it is localised. But this is only possible during crisis or where government fails. Once it becomes too big and powerful, it becomes a political organisation and its leaders become politicians.

Local government is the legal form that political power takes in South Africa. And in many places, this works well, as in the Western Cape. The moment that a civil group makes decisions, such as the distribution of resources for an entire city, they are by definition involved in a political activity and those that do this on a daily basis then become politicians. Politicians hold power, and in order to give legitimacy to the power they hold, they must be elected in some way in a democracy, and that is what a municipal council is when a municipal administration functions well. To change the way a municipal council is elected, national laws and the Constitution needs to be changed. Other possible ways to obtain power is by force, as in authoritarian governments or through birth as is the case in a monarchy. However, we know that it is not the system that is the problem, because it works well in the Western Cape and all over the world.

Therefore, the only real, long-term, sustainable way to turn around the city is for the citizens to elect a credible party that has a proven track record of governing well. If given a majority, the DA can immediately start implementing proven, evidence-based policies that work. Once an ethical, capable, qualified and experienced municipal manager is appointed, overseen by the executive mayor, the municipal manager can then ensure that capable, qualified and experienced heads of departments are appointed permanently. Once they have been appointed, a clear vision for a better city can be formulated by the council, led by the mayor and capable mayoral committee with the support of the executive management team and in consultation with civil society and all communities. A practical action plan is then developed, which culminates in the Integrated Development Plan and is then translated into a budget. This process can take between 6 and 12 months. Only once a new budget is compiled, can the real work begin to turn the city around.

In the short term, it is possible to make small gains that already signal an improvement to residents. However, residents should not expect that the damage of 30 years of cadre deployment and corruption will be undone within a few weeks or months.

Tjaart van der Walt

Ward 23 Councillor, Mangaung, Democratic Alliance

4 August 2023